The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for coupling electronic devices, in particular for electronically coupling to the infotainment system of a motor vehicle. Such an apparatus can also be referred to as a network node and is in particular a smartphone that is set up to transmit control commands from a motion sensing device to an infotainment system.
Modern vehicles have a wide bandwidth of information and multimedia systems. These include radio, navigation system, onboard computer, CD, DVD and Blu-Ray players, Internet and mobile radio functions and the like. This large number of systems and functions is combined under the term in-vehicle infotainment (IVI).
So as not to excessively restrict a vehicle driver's attention in the road traffic through the operation of IVI systems, various operating concepts have been developed in the past. These include, by way of example, buttons and switches fitted directly to the steering wheel, combination control elements in the central console, voice control and the like.
Specifically in the area of control by motion detection, a lot of new systems have been developed over the past few years. The motion detection systems also include what are known as “wearables”, in which the input equipment is already present inside an item of clothing and the communication of which takes place e.g. using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). These systems are, in principle, also suitable for controlling IVI systems. Most motion detection systems have only a limited number of communication interfaces that they can use to communicate with other devices, however.
IVI systems, too, offer for the most part only a small number of communication interfaces that external devices can use to connect. In this case, it is assumed that the software architecture of the IVI system provides a logical user interface that can be accessed externally by means of a communication interface. Such a user interface generally includes at least the commands forward/up and backward/down for the purpose of navigation within lists, and possibly further navigation commands. Optionally, the indication of a step size for such navigation, for example derived from the intensity of the input, may also be possible, from which e.g. a scroll speed can be derived.
Hence, it would be advantageous if there were a possibility of being able to control any system, such as e.g. an WI system, using as many different controllers as possible without this requiring said controllers to have interfaces that are explicitly attuned to one another or compatible. Further, it would be advantageous to be able to connect different output devices for confirming a control input without this requiring the WI system to have specifically attuned interfaces. Rejection of inputs can also be announced in this way, e.g. by means of specific vibration inside “wearables”.